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Part the Fifth; The Trail Reaches it's End
-[arbitrary date +3], afternoon, Fort Willinger
Well.
Well. Where to begin.
I now know the reason for Aleister's assault on Wynn. I've gathered this from Alaesa, who is as thorny as ever. From what she tells, the prince of Fichino rejected the princess of Aleister, and she took it personally. Feuding among nobles is a national pasttime in most kingdoms, but starting a war to kill the new object of the prince's affections strikes me as madness. One wonders what hold she has on her father's advisors that let her execute such plans. The hold she has over the assassins is obvious, though. Fort Willinger has plenty of poor, desperate people. Alaesa herself said-*The following lines have been heavily marked through*
Regardless, the princess no doubt promised substantial rewards for anyone who would help her start her war. I can only hope she follows through, and leaves something for their surviving families. Alaesa seems to take it personally. She came directly to meet with them, presumably out of concern for their safety. I tried to bring up perhaps helping them, but she had misunderstood and took offense at something I said earlier. She seems a more reasonable sort, now that I've had a chance to speak with her at length. Terrified that people are going to abandon her, though. We'll need to work on that.
We'll be setting out to refind the rest of our comrades soon. Hopefully they made it to safety after Fuchs rallied them. The local guards had mages trawl the town with some sort of conjured spectre, and they may have sent some after our team. I'll have to investigate this further with our resident cleric, as that stinks of necromancy. Speaking of Naesra, I may have uncovered what initiated the altercation at the gate. Aleister follows a, ahem, unique to my understanding interpretation of Lyraleian doctrine, and they may have mistaken her for a sort of sacred prostitute. From what I've seen of her, this inevitably led to their confrontation. But enough of this. I need to check if the patrols have cleared before we try the walls.

*archivist's note; the following page is heavily damaged, stained with an unidentified dark liquid that Bartleby vehemently denies is blood*

Part the Sixth; Into the Heart of Aleister
-[arbitrary date +3], evening, woods near Fort Willinger
…party appears to have made it clear, with the help of a local arcanist named Zeruna. The man is utterly daft. He has an unhealthy fascination with drowic demons, and the most outlandish claims about Fuch's sword, all the gods being deceased, backed up by apparently incomplete and undoubtedly questionable research. 'Deep below, pressed to perfection in water no man can survive'. Pah. Superstitious rubbish. No man can survive crawling into a forge either, but we don't consider iron and steel forbidden works…

…but Nathurra finally got him to leave, with promises to visit his tower in the northlands. Along with 'many allies'. I find his invitation as trustworthy as Bumble's, especially given his proclivities and the presence of free-roaming undead…

…princess of Aleister might be a witch? It would explain how she influenced her father's advisors. Miss Duchamp has ruled against negotiating with her. I have to agree. If she was going to talk, she wouldn't have invaded, and who knows what other powers answer to her command. The current plan…